Ugandans turn Kampala's uncollected garbage into versatile fuel

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Index Ugandans turn Kampala's uncollected garbage into versatile fuelCement kilns are used to transform waste, which would otherwise pollute the city, into a fuel that suits petrol engines

Wambi Michael

Guardian Weekly, Tuesday 30 November 2010 14.00 GMT Article history

Enlightened ... generator fuel is expensive in African cities. Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP

Fred Kyagulanyi and James Sendikwanawa used to get up in the dark to dump bags of rubbish in Kampala's suburbs. Trying not to be spotted, they would sneak past the houses of sleeping neighbours and throw the bags on to the roadside or toss them in drains.

"We would wait several days until we had many bags and then make a trip," Kyagulanyi says. "We were embarrassed, even if nobody was watching us at the time."

Without a proper waste collection and management system, such nocturnal enterprises are not unusual in Uganda. These days, however, the two men turn rubbish into fuel. The friends have honed a technique to produce what Kyagulanyi calls "non-fossil fuel", made from refuse such as plastic bottles, polythene bags and organic waste.Read More